Connect external drive to new iMac

https://www.samsung.com/us/computing/memory-storage/portable-solid-state-drives/portable-ssd-t5-1tb-mu-pa1t0b-am/

"The included USB Type-C™ to C cable and USB Type-C to A cable give you seamless connectivity without the hassle of purchasing additional adapters."

So, no adapter at all. Samsung designed the drive with USB-C in mind – and they put a USB-C to USB-A adapter in the box for the benefit of people who needed to plug it into a USB-A port.

Just use the USB-C to USB-C cable that came in the box. Plug one end into the drive, and the other end into any of the Mac's USB-C ports. According to Apple's Technical Specifications, both the Thunderbolt / USB4 ports and the USB 3 ports (if you have them) support USB data transfers at rates up to 10 Gb/s.

Joeswell wrote:

Thanks for your reply.

However, I can’t seem to locate any USB-C ports on my iMac. It’s brand new and only seems to have four ports, none which is USB-C port. They seem to be all same “Thunderbolt” ports. An adapter cord was included with the computer, but it’s a Thunderbolt to a “Lightning”

All of the ports shown in your picture are USB-C ports. USB-C is the connector type. USB-C ports are a bit like "Swiss Army knives" that can have various sets of blades.

Apple says that the two USB-C ports on the left – the unmarked ones – are "USB 3" ports that have speeds of "up to 10 Gb/s)." That means they just have a USB "blade". You can't plug a display or a Thunderbolt dock into them, and expect it to work, but they can support all sorts of regular USB accessories.

The two USB-C ports on the right – marked with lightning symbols – are "Thunderbolt / USB4" ports. They have a number of "blades": DisplayPort, Thunderbolt 3, USB4 (up to 40 Gb/s), and USB 3.1 Gen 2. Which blades are used depends on what you plug in. Plug in a USB device and the two devices speak USB. Plug in a second display and they might speak DisplayPort, with a little bit of USB on the side to connect hub ports on the display.

Your drive wants to speak USB protocol at speeds of up to 10 Gb/s (USB 3.1 Gen 2 speed). All four of your USB-C ports can do that. So you can plug the USB-C to USB-C cable that came with the drive into any of them.

facing the back of the Mac, the two ports on the left are USB-C. the two on the right are TB3.

the ports can be used for each other. but if you plug an USB-C device to the TB3 port, it will only run at USB-C speeds. and if you plug a TB3 device to the USB-C port, it will still only run at USB-C speeds.

Joeswell wrote:

An adapter cord was included with the computer, but it’s a Thunderbolt to a “Lightning”

That's probably for pairing and recharging the bundled Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse.

if you have an iPhone / iPad / iPod touch with a Lightning connector, and want to load music from your own CDs onto it (with the aid of the Music application and the Finder), that cable might be useful for that, too.

Servant of Cats wrote:

All of the ports shown in your picture are USB-C ports. USB-C is the connector type. USB-C ports are a bit like "Swiss Army knives" that can have various sets of blades.

You can't plug a display or a Thunderbolt dock into them, and expect it to work, but they can support all sorts of regular USB accessories.

thanks for the correction. I love it when I learn new things. :)